Yarn separator

ABSTRACT

A yarn separator for the yarn fed into a carpet machine to prevent the yarns from being intertangled and placed in such condition, thereby causing a defect in the fabric.

Unitefl States Patent Bylund Feb. 5, 1974 YARN SEPARATOR 2,497,330 2/1950 Smith 156/435 3,590,880 7/1971 Kollbrunn 139/192 [75] Inventor Spartanburg, 3,424,632 l/1969 Adler 156/435 x [73] A i D i Mmi Research 3,173,823 3/1965 Guinard.... 1/56/435 3,393,653 7/1968 Ellison 156 435 X Corporamn Spartanburg 3,479,241 11/1969 Partensky 156/435 [22] Filed: Mar. 27, 1972 3,127,293 3/1964 Trenteseaux 156/72 3,691,069 9/1972 Walser 156/72 [21] Appl. No.: 238,230

Primary Examiner-Alfred L. Leavitt 521 U.S. c1 156/435, 156/72, 156/178, Assistant Examir1erBasilJ- y i 156/436 Attorney, Agent, or Firm-H. W1111am Petry et a1. [51] Int. Cl. D04h 11/00, D050 15/00, B32b 5/02 [58] Field of Search..... 156/72, 435-, 439, 440, 494, ABSTRACT 156/436, 176, 438, 178; 139/192; 28/54 A yarn separator for the yarn fed into a carpet machine to prevent the yarns from being intertangled and [56] References Cited placed in such condition, thereby causing a defect in UNITED STATES PATENTS the fabric- 3,657,052 4/1972 Debonnet 156/435 1 Claim, 8 Drawing Figures I 2 Q 1 I4 R v U I Q I,

1 3 s a i T 2 8 (@y PATENTED 5 74 SHEET 3 [IF 5 .PMENIEDFEB sum 3,790,426

saw u or s PATENTED FEB 14 sum 5 OF 5 HO IO '94 n/ YARN SEPARATOR This application relates to a process and apparatus for manufacturing fabrics with non-woven pile such as carpet or velvets, according to which one coats, on one side only, two continuous support bands with a layer of adhesive; one displaces these support bands in a passage in which they lie practically parallel to one another at a predetermined distance from one another in such a way that the adhesive layer carried by one of the support bands faces that carried by the other support band; one drives at least one continuous element in the form of a thread or band by folder blades, alternately against the adhesive layers carried by the support bands when they are displaced at the entrance to the abovementioned passage or in the neighborhood thereof, in such a way as to apply the continuous element alternately against these adhesive layers and to fold it zigzag; one ensures the hold by at least one of the adhesive layers and one then separates the support bands from one another.

It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a process and apparatus which economically and efficiently manufactures a non-woven pile fabric.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become readily apparent as the specification proceeds to describe the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is an end elevation view of the new and improved apparatus;

FIG. 2 is a left hand elevation view of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIGS. 3-5 illustrate the operation of the folding blades;

FIG. 6 is a cross-section view taken on line 66 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 7 is a blown-up view of the drop wire arrangement shown in FIG. 3; and

FIG. 8 is a view taken on line 8-8 of FIG. 7.

Looking now to FIGS. 1 and 2, the basic operation of the apparatus will be explained. Carpet yarn 10 is supplied from a yarn source (not shown) over and around guide rolls 12 and 14 and down to the vertical guides 16 through a reed bar which maintains the separate warp ends spaced from one another. Carpet backing 17 is supplied from rolls 18 into position between the guides l6. During the path of travel from the rolls to the guides 16 an adhesive is applied to the top surface of the carpet backing 17 to secure yarn placed thereagainst by the folding blades 20 and 22. As the yarn 10 enters between the vertical guides 16 the folding blades 20 and 22 alternately displace the yarn in a zig-zag fashion into one or the other of the carpet backing sheets 17 as the carpet backing is being drawn downwardly. Then the carpet backing with the yarn therebetween is heated to cure the adhesive to form a good bond between the backing 17 and the yarn 10. Then the yarn I0 is severed in the middle of the backing sheets 17 by any suitable means to provide, simultaneously. two sheets of carpet.

The folding of the yarn 10 in zig-zag fashion is basically accomplished by the folding blades 20 and 22 and the pivotally mounted bladelets 24 and 26. Folding blades 20 and 22 are mounted, respectively, to connecting rods 28 and 30. Connecting rod 28 is pivotally connected to pivot shafts 32 and 34 and connecting rod 30 is pivotally connected to pivot shafts 36 and 38 through suitable links 40. The shafts 32 and 38 are oscillated by the oscillating crank arm mechanism 42 and 44 driven by the main drive shafts 46 and 48. The main drive shafts 46 and 48 are driven through a chain member 50 driven by a sprocket (not shown) on the stub shaft 52 which is in turn driven by a belt 54 connected to the main drive motor (not shown). It should be noted that the blade 20 is out of phase with the blade 22 so that when the blade 22 is being pivoted inwardly as shown in FIG. 1 the blade 20 is being pivoted outwardly and vice versa.

The bladelets 22 and 26 are elongated blades pivotally mounted at 56 and 58, respectively, under the folding blades 20 and 22. The bladelets 24 and 26 are spring loaded downwardly and are periodically allowed to move downwardly when the levers 60 and 61 mounted on shafts 62 are rotated upwardly as shown on the right hand side of FIG. 1. Rotation of the shafts 62 is controlled by cams 64 and 66 which cause levers 68 and 71) to move, respectively, connecting rods 72 and 74, to move either lever 60 or 61 depending on the position of the cams 64 and 66. It should be noted that the right hand cam (FIG. 1) controls the movement of the left hand bladelet 24 and the left hand cam controls the movement of the right hand bladelet 22. Spring member 76 is employed to return the respective lever 60 or 61 to the down position when the controlling cam is in the dwell position.

As discussed previously the folding blades operate out of phase with one another to provide zig-zag configuration of the yarn between the carpet backing sheets 16. In FIG. 3 folding blade 20 is being pivoted to its extreme in position where it will press the yarn into the adhesive on the carpet backing while folding blade 22 is being pivoted to its extreme out position. At the same time bladelet 24 is pivoted to its down position bearing on the yarn 10 while bladelet 26 is pivoting forward to start to pre-fold the yarn 10 for the formation of the next loop. In FIG. 4 the blade 20 is now being pivoted away from the yarn embedded in the adhesive and the blade 22 is being pivoted forward to contact the yarn 10 above the bladelet 26. At the same time the bladelet 24 is being pivoted out of the way while bladelet 26 is being pivoted downwardly to complete the pre-fold in the yarn. Then the blade 22 continues forward as in FIG. 5 to place the pre-folded yarn 10 into the adhesive on the opposite carpet backing as the blade 20 is pivoted to its rear position. At the same time bladelet 24 is pivoting downwardly to the pre-fold position for the next successive loop while the other bladelet is down on top of the previously formed loop. Then in zig-zag fashion the folding blades and bladelets repeat the above operation to form loops on one carpet backing l8 and then on the other.

The feed of yarn 10 to the blades 20 and 22 is controlled by a ratchet 78 and pawl 80 which is indexed through levers 82, 84 and 86 connected to sprocket shaft 88 which is rotated by chain belt 90 driving sprocket 92 connected thereto.

As noted above, the yarn 10 passes through the reed bar 15 in its passage to the vertical guides 16. The reed bar 15 consists of a plurality of bars 94 connected to a frame 96. Individual yarn ends are separated by the bars 94. It should be noted that adjacent bars are staggered in relation to one another so that the straight line distance between adjacent bars is greater than the centerline distance to allow a thick portion or slub in the yarn to pass therethrough without breaking.

The reed bar is located as close as possible to the folding blades and 22 but in many instances it is necessary to maintain the yarns spaced from one another between the reed bar and the folding blades to prevent them from entangling due to intermittent changes in the yarn tension. To this end is provided U-shaped sep' arator members 98 which are supported between the bars 94 by flange portions 97 which engage the top of the reed bar frame 96. Preferably the members 98 have an offset portion 100 so that they will hang between two rods and be free to swing in either direction to allow yarn with thick portions therein to pass between the separator and the bar. Separator members 98 allow certain color patterns to be run that could not be run before due to the crossing over of yarns of different CO1- ors.

Although I have described in detail the preferred embodiment of my invention it is contemplated that many changes may be made without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention and I desire to be limited only by the claims.

That which is claimed is:

1. Apparatus to produce a bonded fabric comprising: means to supply two adhesive coated backing sheets into opposed relationship, a pair of folding blades, means to supply a plurality of yarns between said folding blades, means operably associated with said folding blades to alternately cause said folding blades to place yarn into the adhesive on one of said backing sheets and then into the other, a reed bar mounted above said folding blade to separate said plurality of yarns one from the other, said reed bar having at least two rows of separator bars with the bars in one row being above and staggered in relation to the bars in the lower of said rows and individual separator members mounted on said reed bar and hanging down between adjacent bars in the lower of said rows of bars, said separator members having an upper portion and a lower portion, said upper portions of said separator members being offset from said lower portions and being mounted between adjacent bars of said upper rows of bars in said reed. 

1. Apparatus to produce a bonded fabric comprising: means to supply two adhesive coated backing sheets into opposed relationship, a pair of folding blades, means to supply a plurality of yarns between said folding blades, means operably associated with said folding blades to alternately cause said folding blades to place yarn into the adhesive on one of said backing sheets and then into the other, a reed bar mounted above said folding blade to separate said plurality of yarns one from the other, said reed bar having at least two rows of separator bars with the bars in one row being above and staggered in relation to the bars in the lower of said rows and individual separator members mounted on said reed bar and hanging down between adjacent bars in the lower of said rows of bars, said separator members having an upper portion and a lower portion, said upper portions of said separator members being offset from said lower portions and being mounted between adjacent bars of said upper rows of bars in said reed. 